Theories of organisation actually become ideologies, legitimisations for certain forms of organisation. They deploy arguments in terms of rationality and efficiency to provide control. The limits that they impose upon the conception of organisations actually close down the possibility of considering alternative forms of organisation. This is nowhere more clearly evident than in the current application of management theories to schools. Such theories marginalise empirical studies of school practice and dismiss the 'folk-knowledge' of teachers as irrelevant. They are as significant for what they exclude as for what they include (Ball, 1987, p. 5).